


Tim's Adventures In Profiling

by Spnfandom8



Category: Batman - Fandom, Criminal Minds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26938180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spnfandom8/pseuds/Spnfandom8
Summary: This fic is exactly what the title insinuates. Tim Drake's adventures in profiling.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy. :)

The BAU has been a coveted job within law enforcement for a while now, the team that they have put together work extremely well together and they all seem to know what they are doing, the only thing wrong is that one of the higher up’s has been requesting that they add another member for a while now, to be able to spread out the work more evenly throughout the team, to create less stress and to have less cause for problems occuring within the tight knit unit.   
Throughout mine and Bruce’s constant surveillance of all of the major crimes units that could someday become a problem, we realised that the BAU have been looking for another member to round out their numbers for quite some time, with no luck. And that’s where I come in.   
About two years ago I was kidnapped and tortured by the Joker, I was turned into JJ, basically a jacked up clone of the Joker. By the time my family got to me I was already ten shades of fucked up, which was fortunately helped, thanks to some world class shrinks. It took me about a year to get back to some semblance of normal, and even then I was still plagued with horribly vivid memories of what happened in those three weeks. After I was given the green light by my shrink, it was another year of trying to be Red Robin, of trying to be myself again, before I finally decided that maybe what I really needed was a break, a break from everything, from Gotham, from the pressure that comes from simply being a vigilante, from criminally insane psychopaths who have nothing better to do than to torture children.   
And that’s how I ended up here, at 19 years old, joining the BAU, because I can’t think of going somewhere in life where i’m not helping people and stopping criminals, it’s been ingrained in me since I first realised that Batman was my hero, in the years that have passed i’ve realised that it is something that i’ll never be able to get rid of, the insane urge to help people, no matter the cost to myself, no matter what, to help people who can’t help themselves.   
But this is only temporary, this job, i’m going to go back to Red Robin, no matter how much Damian drives me up a wall, no matter how much Jason threatens to kill me, that’s where I belong, with my family, cleaning up our city, and putting away criminals who shouldn’t have been on the streets in the first place.   
I’ve talked it over with Alfred, Dick and Bruce, and they all think it would be extremely beneficial for me to take a break from Gotham for a while, until I feel that I can come back and work safely and not feel so overwhelmed by the fear that overcomes my body every time I turn the corner in Gotham, every time I think I see his pasty face and that shock of green hair, everytime I hear his laughter echoing in my head.   
They told me that going away for a while would be a good idea, taking a break from Red Robin would be a good idea, and maybe finding some normalcy before I take the plunge back into the crime ridden streets of my city.   
I can see where one might think that if I was looking for a sense of normalcy I wouldn’t be applying to the FBI’s BAU, but i’ve done my research, and I believe that it will be mentally draining enough to put my mind at ease, yet I won’t be dealing with the same caliber of criminal that I would be at home, it won’t be enough to cause me to be on edge every second of every day, like it has been for the last two years.   
As I get on the elevator heading up, I let my mind fall apart for 5 seconds, five seconds to panic and worry, five seconds before I have to pull myself together and plaster a professional mask on my face, five seconds to have that demure smile on my lips and the pain gone from my eyes.   
When my five seconds are up I straighten myself and take a deep breath, readying myself to meet my new team, to meet the people that I will be working with for the foreseeable future.   
The elevator doors slowly open and I walk out, making my way through the bullpen to the office where I had my interview a few days ago, ignoring the stares and the whispers. When I reach my new boss, Hotch’s office, I knock and enter when I hear a muffled ‘come in’ from behind the closed door.   
“Morning Hotch” I greet, using the name the other man told me to use a few days ago.   
“Good morning Jameson” he greets with a smile, using my aliases last name.   
“You wanted me here early to meet the team?” I ask politely   
“Yes” he answers simply before standing and walking out the door, presumably wanting me to follow him.   
He stops when we reach a room with a handful of the people from the bullpen this morning, and some people I don’t remember seeing, and leads the both of us inside, quickly getting into introductions.   
“Good morning, I know you all have been curious about who our new member is going to be, so i’m happy to finally say that I have selected the final member of our team, Timothy Jameson” Hotch says as he walks over and takes a seat at the circular table, gesturing for me to do the same, and I end up taking the only empty seat, which happens to be next to a skinny looking kid who looks to be about as young as me, but is truthfully a few years older, and a bald man who looks to be about my size, with a scowl in full force directed at your’s truly.   
“Hello it’s nice to meet you all, and I would prefer to be called Tim, although Jameson works fine too, anything but Timothy” I say, making sure to put a friendly note in my voice, not that it does anything for the scowling man sitting next to me.   
“How the hell old is this kid Hotch?” the man asks   
“21” I answer, knowing that the question wasn’t directed at me.   
“21! Are you kidding me Hotch? He’s a child, I thought we were getting someone qualified?” the man cries, obviously outraged at the thought of working with a child.   
“I am more than qualified for this position” I answer simply, working to not let the anger at his statement overcome me, knowing that I was expecting this reaction, although the fact that i’m really only 19 makes the situation more amusing than anything else.   
“Qualified? How?” the man asks disbelievingly.   
“I’m sure you will figure that out on your own Agent….” I say, waiting for him to tell me his name, not that I don’t already know all of their names and work histories, but they don’t need to know that.   
“Morgan” he answers, his tone clipped and obviously annoyed.   
“Listen, i’m really happy for the opportunity to work on this team, but I don’t like being judged on my age alone, you don’t know anything about me, you don’t know how i’m qualified for this job, but I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. Not to mention the fact that you seem very protective of your other teammate here” I motion to Doctor Reid “who looks to be around the same age as me, and you don’t seem to be pulling at your chain to kick him off the team, so I would appreciate it if you would hold back on judging a book by it’s cover” I tell him, watching as he takes in the facts I throw at him and seems to actually listen to what i’m saying.   
“Fine, I will hold off on judgement, but that doesn’t mean that i’m going to like you when I do make a judgement” he warns   
“I think we should both prepare for the fact that I may very well not like you either” I tell him cheekily, relaxing as the tense air around us dissipates.   
“Well, I like you. Penelope Garcia, pleasure to meet you Tim” a pleasant looking woman introduces.   
“Welcome to the team, i’m Gideon” says an older man who was watching me and Morgan go back and forth with an amused look on his face.   
“Spencer Reid, and it’s actually nice to have someone closer to my age on the team” says the young man seated next to me.   
“Elle Greenaway, i’m looking forward to finding out what these qualifications are” she says with a genuine smile.   
“Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me JJ, i’ll be looking forward to working with you” she said politely.   
“Alright, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t you all show Jameson here to his desk?” Hotch tells the team, phrasing it like a question, even though it really isn’t one.


	2. chapter 2

My new team shows me to my desk and as soon as I put my things down and sit at the chair I hear a phone ring, looking around I quickly deduce that it’s the phone sitting on my desk.   
Looking up at the team crowded around my desk, I shoot them a questioning look, and I get one back in return.   
“No one has used this desk before, it was here for when we got out last member” Spencer tells me, an obviously confused look on his face.   
I reach over and answer the phone, putting it down when Garcia puts it on speaker.   
“Hello?” I answer, seeing as it is my phone now.   
“Hey Tim” I hear a cheerful voice on the other end of the phone say, and I can hear the smile on his face through the phone.   
“Dick, why are you calling me?” I ask with a smile now growing on my face.   
“I wanted to see how your first day is going” Dick says, obviously impressed with himself.   
“Is that so? How did you get my number?” I ask   
“B” he answers   
“Of course. Aren’t you supposed to be at work yourself?” I ask, knowing that he is.   
“No, i’m supposed to call you and see how your doing” he tells me cheekily.   
“I’m fine Dick, Damian, you can go now” I say, watching the faces of the team around me.   
“How did you know I was here?” I hear Damian huff.   
“I can hear you breathing, call me when i’m not at work guys, bye” I tell them as I hang up the phone.   
“Boyfriend?” Garcia asks with a smirk.   
“No, overprotective friends” I tell her with an exasperated smile.   
“Yeah, i’ve got some of those” she tells me with a pointed look around the circle. Causing everyone to laugh.   
“Now, I have one question, how did they get the phone number?” Garcia asks me   
“I don’t know, overprotective friends plus B equals my phone number, Bruce happens to be one of those overprotective friends” I tell them, knowing that it would be good for them to hear the names of my ‘friends’ so that they didn’t get suspicious when they were mentioned or I was speaking on the phone with them, plus most of their antics can be explained away as overprotective friends.   
“Alrighty then” Garcia says, still a bit suspicious but nothing I can’t handle.   
“So, Garcia, I hear that you are the technical analyst of the team?” I ask, actually interested.   
“Yes” she answers.   
“You know, I was actually interested in that job but I wanted a position here with the BAU, so here I am, Field Agent” I tell her.   
“Wait, what? You wanted to be a technical analyst? For the government? But then you just decided you wanted to work here as a Field Agent?” she asks, obviously dumbfounded at my words.   
“Yeah, I am qualified for both positions. And after, um, after a bad experience I was thinking about taking a more computer geared position, but I eventually decided that I would need the action that comes with being a Field Agent, I get bored if i’m cooped up for too long” I tell them, deciding that opening up about myself would endear me to them a whole lot faster than keeping everything close to the chest like I so desperately want to.   
“How though? At 21 you got accepted to be a profiler with the BAU, and at the same time you are qualified to be a computer analyst? It’s a little baffling Timmy” Garcia tells me, the admiration and suspicion warring with each other in her tone and posture.   
“Well, i’ve been through a lot more than my years would suggest” I say cryptically, almost laughing at how true that statement is, for everyone in my family.   
“You, my friend, are a man of mystery, and I intend to figure you out.” Garcia says with a grin on her face.   
“You should be careful what you wish for, you might not like what you find.” I say, not entirely thinking through my words before they fall from my mouth.   
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks suspiciously   
“Nothing.”   
“Well, that just leaves me wanting to know more about the mysterious Timothy Jameson.” she says, the suspicious look buried under a megawatt smile.   
“You know, I already know that you dug into my past for the background check, and you were only surprised this morning because you didn’t think I would get in, considering that there isn’t anything remarkable in my past.” I point out, deciding to go with my gut while working with these people, and I cross my fingers that this won’t be a mistake.   
“I think with a mind like that, you’ll fit in here just fine. Although I would like to know how you knew I was digging into your past, considering that what I was doing should’ve been undetectable.” Garcia says, her first statement assuring me while the next puts me on edge.   
“Well, you happen to be famous in the hacker world, and this isn’t the first time i’ve heard of you, I figured if you were working with the feds now, I should probably expect someone a little more experienced than a random techie to be conducting my background check.” I tell her.   
“Smart” is all she says, the conversation being carried on Derek a moment later.   
“Hacker world? What do you have to do with the hacker world?” he asks, his question directed at me, even though i’m pretty sure that he didn’t know about Garcia’s previous hacker identity.   
“I had a lot of freedom when I was a kid, wasn’t really supervised, friends weren’t vetted of anything, it made it a lot easier to make some more, eclectic, friends than I would have normally.” I tell them, laughing silently as I think of my family as eclectic friends.   
“Eclectic?” Derek asks, his eyebrow raised in disbelief.   
“Yeah, not dangerous, well, not really. Okay, not all of them. Either way, they’re good friends and they taught me some things, although a lot of my tech knowledge is self taught, I did have someone to fine tune, and to teach me some new tricks, shortcuts, that sort of thing.” I tell them, realising that I can’t realistically say that they aren’t dangerous, not with how many times Damian and Jason have tried to kill me, and if we’re not counting danger to my person, then they are all dangerous.   
“Not all of them are dangerous?” is all that Derek seems to get out of my explanation.   
“Well, if we look at it from a danger to my person standpoint, then only two of them are dangerous, and they stopped trying to get to me a long time ago.” two years “ and if we go off a general danger standpoint, then they are all dangerous.” I explain.   
“Where do you meet friends like that?” is what Reid wants to know.   
“And why were two of them a danger to your person?” Garcia asks   
“Um, the circus.” I answer Reid, because that’s technically accurate.   
“And one of them was a misunderstanding, Jay, went away for a while, before I was really a part of this group, and when he came back, I had stepped into his old responsibilities to keep the group up and running and sane, but when he came back, he saw it as me replacing him. The other one just had entitlement issues and maybe a god complex.” I tell them, thinking back to the booby traps and knives and swords and acid that the demon tried to use to kill me with.   
“You are on odd one” Derek says, an oddly amused look on his face, and I hope that it means that the anger from this morning is going to stay in the past.


	3. chapter 3

Two months later 

I wince as I twist my body in order to pick up the still unfamiliar weight of my gun, sparing a glance for the unconscious men lying around me, I roll gracefully into a sitting position so that I can train my gun on the men, hoping that they don’t wake up in the time it will take my team to arrive at the scene.   
I slowly push myself up so that i’m sitting on my knees, prepared to stand if they do try to move, making sure to put myself in between the men and the unconscious girl slumped against the wall behind me.  
I called in the attack a few minutes ago, so it shouldn’t take too long for the team to get here, we had only gone back to the hotel an hour before, but I was unable to sleep, so I decided to take a walk over to the coffee shop a few blocks from the hotel.   
As I was coming back from the shop, I heard a child scream, and instinct kicked in, my legs bringing me around the bend to the alley before I even realised that I was moving.   
What I saw when I got there had my blood boiling, there was a girl being held against the dirty brick wall, a leering man behind her, his filthy hand holding her mouth so that she couldn’t make any more noise, and his free hand struggling to unbutton her jeans.   
Now, when I say girl, I mean girl. The kid can’t be more than 11 years old, her tear stained cheeks and fearful eyes making her seem younger than even that.   
my eyes quickly assess the situation, breathing a sigh of relief when I realise that the girl still has all of her clothes on, the fumbling hand on her jeans seems to be the furthest that the man has gotten, and I thank whatever is out there that I got here in time to prevent something awful from happening to this girl.   
I let my old training kick in, silently gliding over to where the man is growling into the girls ear, and I grab him by the back of his neck, spinning around so that I can slam his forehead into the opposite wall, feeling satisfaction rush through my veins as the man grunts and blood trails down his face.   
Dazed, the man still tries to act tough, screwing up his face into a scowl and throwing a punch towards my stomach, and a small twist to the side ensures that his hand passes through the space that I no longer occupy.   
I throw my own punch square into the man’s jaw, watching his head snap to the side and following up with a straight kick to the balls. The man hits the ground, unconscious from the punch, but I know he’ll be feeling to kick to his balls when he wakes up.   
I turn around to see if the girl stuck around while I took care of her attacker, and my gaze lands on her just in time to hear her scream once more, a group of four men closing in on her quickly, they reach her before I do, the biggest one reaching out and slamming her head into the wall, cutting her off mid-scream, and causing her to slump down to the ground, still propped up by the wall that has some of her blood trickling down it from where she was hit.   
“Bad idea” I growl, anger coursing through my veins as I look at the pale, tear streaked face of an innocent little girl.   
The man snarls before lunging at me, throwing a punch to my face, which I duck under, darting close under his defences, I throw a flurry of punches and kicks to the man’s torso and face, not stopping until he too hits the ground, unconscious.   
I grunt as I realise that I took too much of my attention away from the other three men, and that one of them took the opportunity to smash a half rotten wooden board over my back, causing pain to throb through my body.   
I quickly twist so that I can confront the man who hit me, only to get a roundhouse kick to the ribs and a right hook in the jaw.   
I stumble a few steps away from the men, quickly recovering before I fall back into a fighting stance, subtly shaking my head to clear the ringing from it.   
Every time that I land a hit on one of the men, the other two try to box me in, attempting to keep me in the circle so that they can all attack me at the same time.   
Meanwhile i’m doing my best to prevent that, succeeding most of the time, while the rest of the time results in me getting another kick to the ribs, cracking two of them, two more punches to the face, leaving it a patchwork of bruises, and a few other hits to the back and legs, most of the damage is done to my face and torso though, and 2 minutes later all of the men lay unconscious on the ground around me, and i’m left to pick myself up enough to call Hotch, and to move into a position in front of the girl after checking to make sure that she wasn’t bleeding too badly.   
I wince as I realise that I haven’t done this bad in a fight since the first few times I went out as Robin, and I decide then and there that when I get back to Quantico, the first thing i’m doing is going back on the training regimine that B has had me on since I was 9.   
I haven’t been training for 2 years, ever since the Joker fucked me up and turned me into JJ, i’ve been more focussed on fixing my mind than I have on repairing the damage that he did to my body, leaving my body riddled with scar tissue.   
And even though I was trying to go out as Red Robin for the last year before I decided to apply for the BAU, it was mostly patrols, and usually those only lasted about an hour before I was in a panic and making my way, assisted, back to the Batcave.   
I still have the skills from my time as Robin and Red Robin, but it seems that between being out of the game for 2 years and the damage done to me physically, i’ve fallen out of practice.   
I keep my gun trained on the group of men, even when I hear the little girl behind me start to wake up, her breathing accelerating until she is almost hyperventilating, and I can hear her scrambling up so that she’s standing.   
“Th-tha-thank y-you. For hel-helping me.” she says quietly, her shuffling footsteps coming closer and closer to me until she is standing by my side, her shaking form drawing sympathy from me.   
“What’s your name?” I ask quietly   
“Lexie” she says softly, her shaking getting worse.   
I’m about to open my mouth to ask her if she hurt anywhere besides her head, but before I get the chance to, her legs give out underneath her.   
I react quickly, turning quickly to the side and ignoring the grinding pain in my ribs, I catch her before she hits the ground, I keep my eyes on the men as she pushes further into my embrace, her shaking cold body burrowing closer to my chest as she buries her face into my shoulder, and I pull her closer as she starts to sob, locking her arms around my torso.   
“It’s okay Lexie” I tell her softly as I rub circles on her back, switching my gun from one hand to the other so that I can get a more secure hold on the child in my arms.   
I work hard to prevent my body from relaxing when I hear sirens pulling up to the opening of the alley, continuing to soothe Lexie when she tenses at the sound of the sirens.   
“Tim” I hear Hotch bark out as him and the rest of the team, sans Garcia, enter the alley, a handful of cops following behind them as Derek instructs them to arrest the unconscious men.   
“Hey guys” I greet as they rush towards me and Lexie.  
I let Reid take my gun from my hand as I re-adjust Lexie and let Hotch and Derek help me into a standing position, keeping her close to my chest as she whimpers.   
I watch as Derek reaches out to take the girl from me, and she lets out a small noise of distress, clinging tighter with her death grip around my neck.   
“I’ve got her” I tell him, using one of the compartmentalising techniques that Bruce taught us to push my pain away.   
I move her weight to my side, and lean into Derek’s offered shoulder as we make our way to the SUV’s, by the time we finally get there i’m really fucking tired, and it takes all i’ve got not to simply collapse into the seat and fall asleep.   
Instead I carefully set Lexie down in the car and buckle her in, sliding in next to her and buckling myself and then letting her once again glue herself to my side.   
“It’s okay” I once again mutter to her, watching as her wide eyes scan the entirety of the car, and the people in it, her body once again shaking in fear.   
“Hospital” I tell them, although i’m pretty sure that they already knew that.


	4. chapter 4

It’s a surprisingly quiet ride to the hospital, although i’m sure that the quiet won’t last past how long it takes the hospital to confirm that i’ll be okay. When we finally get there I unbuckle me and Lexie and pick her up bridal style, following the team as they lead the way into the hospital.   
“Okay Lex, when we get in there, we are gonna have a doctor take a look at you, and you are gonna need to tell them what hurts.” I tell her quietly   
“Don’t leave me” she begs as she looks up at me with her deep blue eyes that remind me of my own.   
“I won’t, I promise”   
When we get in the emergency room I watch as Hotch walks up to the front desk and flashes his badge, indicating back at me and Lexie who have been maneuvered to the safest spot in our group, the middle.   
We are almost immediately called into the back, a calm looking nurse ushering us back, but not before trying to convince me to get into a wheelchair.   
He brings us into a curtained off room with beds filled with patients and brings the both of us to one of the beds.   
“You can put her here, we have another bed for you over there” the nurse says, pointing across the room, and I look down just as Lexie whimpers and tightens her grip on my neck.   
“No. I told her I would stay with her” I tell the man, sitting down on the edge of the bed, pulling her hands from around my neck and placing her on the bed before pulling the blankets up to her waist and taking her hand in mine, looking up at the nurse with a defiant look in my eyes.   
“But sir, you’re injured” the man stated, apparently confused.   
“I’m fine” I tell him, watching the skeptical looks flit across my team’s faces as well as the nurses.   
“You are not fine” Derek says, crossing his arms over his chest.   
“Two cracked ribs, possible concussion and some bruising. I’m fine.” I state again, the 3 days without sleep catching up to me with my brain to mouth filter.   
“You need treatment sir” the nurse tried to convince me again.   
“Get a bed over here by hers and i’ll get in it.” I tell him.   
“What the hell happened Jameson?” Hotch asks as the nurse walks away, presumably to get another bed to put over here.   
“I went out to get some coffee when I heard Lexie here scream, nothing good ever comes from children screaming in alley’s late at night. When I got there I saw Lexie being held against the wall by some guy, he was trying to unbutton her jeans, she looked terrified and I reacted. I dragged the man off of her and knocked him unconscious, when I turned around to check if she was okay there were four other men coming at her. I think they might be in a gang together or something. Either way, they got to her before I could and smashed her head into the wall, knocking her out. The guy who knocked her out charged me and I knocked him out too, he was big and dumb, seemed to think that muscles equal winning.”   
I chuckle, thinking about Bane and how he seems to think the same thing.  
“The other three were more of a problem, I got distracted taking down the big lug and they surprised me as I was standing up. They kept trying to put me in between the three of them, but i’m not stupid, I kept them from putting me in the circle most of the time, the rest of the time would be why I look like this.”  
I gesture a hand over my face and torso.   
“After that it was just a matter of putting heads to hard surfaces enough times that they didn’t get up, none of them are dead though.” I finish, feeling like i’m debriefing with Bruce after patrol.   
I feel pangs of homesickness barrel through my body, but I push it down, because homesickness doesn’t have a place here and now.   
I’m saved from hearing whatever the team has to say about my report when the nurse comes towards us, wheeling a bed in front of him.   
He raises an eyebrow at me as soon as he parks the bed, but it’s a good 4 feet away from Lexie’s and she is still fucking terrified, her death grip on my hand combined with her constant shaking leads me to believe that she isn’t really ready to be left by herself right now.   
“Closer” I tell him, raising an eyebrow of my own.   
“I’m not supposed to put beds any closer together than this, there is supposed to be room for people to work on both sides of the bed should something happen.” the nurse explains.   
“Something did happen, a little girl was almost molested or raped by a group of men and right now she is still fucking terrified, if you hadn’t noticed, she’s not terrified of me, but she is scared of everything else, now, I would suggest moving the bed a little fucking closer so that I can hold her hand.” I snap, at the end of my rope, in pain and tired.   
I watch as the nurse’s eyes widen and he moves over to the side of the bed, pushing it until it butts up against Lexie’s, from there all I have to do is lower the rail on the side of the bed and scoot over into it, keeping my hand locked with her tightening one.   
Instead of leaving after the nurse pushed our beds together he pulls the chart from the end of Lexie’s bed and begins to ask her questions.   
“What’s your name?” he asks gently   
“Lexie Jones” she says, her voice gaining strength and her shaking easing as he continues to ask her questions about her height and weight, her parents names and where she lives, allergies or other medical issues that she might have.   
When he’s done with her he moves to the end of my bed and pulls out my chart.   
“Name?” he asks   
“Timothy Dra- Jameson” I tell him, fumbling over my last name.  
“Parents?”   
“I’m an adult” I tell him, scowling   
“I am aware, but I need to fill this out.” the nurse says   
“Janet and Jack Jameson, deceased” I tell him, my scowl deepening.   
“Height?”   
“6, 0”   
“Weight?”   
“200”   
“Medical issues or allergies?” he asks   
“No spleen, compromised immune system” I tell him.   
“Okay, who is your emergency contact?” he asks   
“This isn’t an emergency” I tell him, wanting him to leave so that I can close my fucking eyes.   
“Considering your compromised immune system it could quickly become one, and even though you obviously have people here, we still need your emergency contact should something happen.” he tells me, apparently as done with me as I am with him.   
“Richard Grayson” I tell him   
“Thank you” he says with an obviously fake smile.   
“The doctor will be in to check you out in a few minutes” he tells us before leaving.   
“God, I fucking hate hospitals” I mutter as I tip my head back to lean against the pillow tower behind me.  
“Then why did you ask to be taken here?” Reid asks   
“Lexie needs to see a doctor, and her parents. I could have taken care of myself just fine with some advil, an ace bandage, and concussion checks every few hours” I tell him.   
“You have to go to the doctor when you get hurt” I hear Lexie say softly from next to me.   
“Of course Lex, that’s why we’re here” I tell her, completely abandoning my previous argument about why I don’t want to be in a hospital.   
After shooting a look at Reid when he seems ready to bring up the previous argument, I give Lexie’s hand a squeeze before letting my head fall back against the pillows once more and closing my eyes against the harsh lights, it’s only a few moments later that I drift off into oblivion.


	5. chapter 5

I flinch as I feel the blade slice through the skin on my stomach, the sharp scalpel cutting deep enough that I know it will scar.   
“Mine, mine now little birdy, Batsy thinks that he can win, but i’ll show him, when he sees you, all scarred up and laughing, my Batsy won’t know what hit him!” the Joker says, cackling as he carves his name across my stomach, my blood pooling against the open wounds.   
I kept my mouth shut, because I know that if I don’t, I won’t be able to prevent the scream from tearing it’s way free from my mouth. So instead I kept my teeth clenched shut, tears pooling in my eyes, and all the stubbornness in the world can’t stop them from falling down my pale cheeks.   
When he finally finishes carving my stomach open, he calls Harley Quinn over, her hands laden with medical supplies.   
I attempt to keep the confusion off my face, but I must not succeed because the Joker answers my unspoken question.   
“Don’t worry little birdy, I know all about your little spleen issue, I wouldn’t want you dying before my Batsy gets to see you.” he comments, confirming my suspicions.   
His grin spreads wider as he takes an unmarked bottle from Harley, unscrewing the top, he leans over me to pour the contents over my stomach.   
As soon as the liquid hits my open wounds I can’t hold back the scream that tears it’s way free from my throat. Alcohol.   
“Tim!” I hear frantic voices calling for me, but that’s not right. The three of us are the only ones here, but they only ever call me little birdy.   
“Tim, come on Tim, wake up” someone begs, and I feel hands shaking my shoulders.   
I shoot up into a sitting position, my eyes darting around the room, and it’s only when my eyes land on my team crowded around my bed and I feel Lexie squeezing my hand that I realise where I am.   
“Shit” I mutter, my eyes fluttering closed once more.   
“What the hell was that?” Derek asks   
“What do you think it was?” I ask him, my patience running thinner than paper.   
It’s only when I try and use my hand to push myself up that I realise my hand is underneath my shirt, my fingers running over the jagged scar, I wince as I pull my hand back and sit up.   
“It looked like a nightmare, but that wasn’t a normal nightmare, you were screaming and crying, and you looked terrified” he tells me   
“That seems like a normal fucking nightmare to me Derek” I tell him.  
Our argument is interrupted when a doctor pushes the curtain aside and walks over to our beds, pulling the charts from the bottoms of our beds and clipping a few sheets of paper to each one before looking up at us and introducing herself.   
“Hello, i’m doctor Montgomery” she says   
“Lexie”   
“Tim” the two of us introduce back.   
“It’s very nice to meet you guys, i’ll be taking a look at Lexie first” she says as she smiles gently at Lexie and walks to the side of her bed that isn’t pushed up against mine.   
“We have called your parents Lexie and they will be arriving soon, they did give us consent to take look over you now though.” she says, and Lexie glances at me, a questioning look in her eyes.   
“It’s okay” I tell her, squeezing her hand.   
“Would you like anyone to leave the room for your exam Lexie?” the doctor asks her as she pulls her gloves on, sending a sideways glance to me and my team.   
“No, he saved me” she tells the doctor timidly, her voice wavering as she turns her head to look at me once more.   
“Ok” the doctor answers.   
The doctor does the routine things that you would get at a checkup, blood pressure, checking her ears, eyes and throat.   
“Now Lexie, I need you to answer me truthfully now, did that man touch you anywhere else before Tim got there?” she asks, softening her expression and her voice.   
“No, he said he was gonna though, he was trying to take my pants off, and I was so scared, but then Tim came, and he made the guy and his friends leave me alone.” she tells the doctor.   
I watch as some of the tension leaves the doctor, and I understand completely, because I couldn’t help but wonder the same thing myself. I’m still thinking of telling her parents to get Lexie a therapist to talk to, because you never know if the hospital will tell them, or if it would occur to them, but just because the man didn’t do what he wanted to to her, he still traumatised an eleven year old girl, and she should have someone to talk with about it.   
“Ok, well, we are going to be sending you for an MRI when your parents get here to check your head, but other than that it just looks like you have minor bruising, so i’ll let you rest while I take a look at Tim.” she tells Lexie.   
“Ok” she answers softly.   
She then gets up and walks over to my side of the bed, navigating through team members to get there.   
“Okay Mr. Jameson, i’m going to need you to take your shirt off so that I can check on whatever is bleeding” she tells me, sending a pointed glance down at my dirty tee shirt that is starting to get spots of blood seeping through.   
“My head is the only thing you need to worry about” I tell her, my body tensing up at the thought of taking my shirt off in front of anyone besides my family.   
“Not according to my nurse, because according to him, you yourself reported that you have a concussion, two cracked ribs and bruising all over. So please let me do my job and take your shirt off, I need to see how badly your ribs are hurt, and I need to wrap them.” she tells me   
“Jameson, shirt off, now. If you would like to set eyes on this case ever again, I would suggest accepting any and all medical advice from this point forward, this isn’t a game, you are injured.” Hotch tells me, his voice deadly serious.   
I take a few moments to think that over, although my decision is already made, the case we are working on right now is hitting close to home, and I can’t let Hotch pull me completely from it, especially not now, not with how close we are getting to catching whatever sick fuck is torturing young boys in this town.   
“Fine” I mutter, my hands getting clammy and my breathing accelerating as I let go of Lexie’s hand, reaching for the hem of my shirt as I throw my legs over the side of the bed that isn’t pushed against Lexie’s.  
After I lift my shirt a few inches I squeeze my eyes shut and take a moment to breathe, cradling my torso with my arms for a moment.   
“Are you alright Tim?” Reid asks   
“Yep” I answer shortly, knowing that it’s a lie, and i’m sure that they know too.   
“You don’t seem alright, your breathing has accelerated and you’re shaking.” he tells me.   
“Yeah, I know” I tell him, keeping my eyes closed tightly and my arms secured around me.   
It takes me a few more seconds, but I finally convince my arms to work in tandem with my brain, and I pull my shirt over my head, opening my eyes as I do so, watching the reactions of my team and the doctor, I make sure not to turn towards Lexie though, she doesn’t need to see that shit.  
I watch as the horror settles into their faces, and that’s when I look down as well.   
I let my eyes flit over the jagged Joker scar that takes up the majority of my stomach, and then to the two bullet scars on my side, the burn marks from the blowtorch, the irregular lines made from the different types of knives that he used, the stab wounds, the H.Q scar that Harley cut into my peck a few days after the Joker marked me.   
It’s only then that I giggle, watching the horror settle into my teammates faces, I giggle, and then I slap my hand over my mouth, because I know that the giggling will only lead to the more hysterical laughing fits that I find myself in at the most inopportune times.   
So I just sit there, with a maniacal grin stretching my lips, my hand holding my giggles in and my other hand drifting down to trace the Joker scar once more.


	6. chapter 6

It only takes a few minutes to subdue the laughter bubbling in my throat.   
Once I do I take my hand away from my mouth, waiting a few more seconds for my team to do something, and when they don’t, I take it upon myself to break the silence.   
“I came here so that you could wrap my ribs, I would appreciate it if you would get on with it.” I tell Dr. Montgomery letting a glare settle on my face.   
“Y-yes” she stutters, walking to the opposite wall and grabbing an ace bandage from a drawer.   
“What are you looking at?” I snap when my team continues to stare at me.   
“Your scars” Reid answers bluntly, his gaze transfixed on the Joker scar across my stomach.   
“It’s rude to stare” I tell them, fighting the impulse to smile, remembering all the times that Alfred has drilled those same words into each and every one of our heads, including Bruce.   
“I know that I’ve heard that name before, not to mention the initials H.Q, i’m just having trouble recalling exactly where I heard it” Reid says, finally drawing his eyes up from my torso.   
“The Joker and Harley Quinn, two psychos that consistently break out of Arkham Asylum to terrorise Gotham City.” I tell him, moving my eyes from him to the doctor who is holding the ace bandage in her hands, her eyes trained on me once again, seemingly waiting for invitation to come closer.   
I stand up and lift my arms so that the doctor can wrap my ribs, beckoning her closer as I grit my teeth against the pain.   
“Yes! I remember hearing about them on the radio on my way to work a few years ago. They had broken out and crossed state lines, which is the only reason that it made national news, seeing as Gotham is a no man’s land for pretty much everyone. People don’t go there, they are born there, and the only time that the government does anything there is when Gotham P.D calls the FBI in for something that they can’t handle.” Reid spouts off as the doctor wraps the bandage tightly around my midsection.   
I simply nod at him, once again compartmentalising the grinding pain.   
“Ha, ha, ha” I hear Lexie say from behind me, and I curse under my breath as I remember the scars on my back.   
“Lexie, how about you take my phone and watch netflix?” I ask her, reaching into my back pocket and unlocking my phone before turning to the side so that I can lean over and hand her my phone and earbuds, which I had had in my pocket  
“Why does it say ‘Ha ha ha’ on your back?” she asks as she takes my phone, her voice wavering slightly.   
“It’s a special kind of tattoo” I tell her, hoping that with her scared and rattled state she won’t see through my lie.   
She just nods at me and I twist back around, facing my team once more.   
When I meet Hotch’s eyes I immediately know what he wants to know, and realising that it would be easier to just show them what they want to see, instead of fighting with them while i’m this tired and irritable.   
I turn my head back at Lexie to see that she is absorbed in my phone before I turn all the way around, letting them see the scars on my back, mainly the Ha ha ha one that starts at the waistband of my jeans and runs diagonally up my back, left to right, and the jagged lash marks that come from the barbed whip that Harley wanted to test out, because apparently my back was the perfect canvas.   
“What-” Derek starts to ask   
“Everything is a joke to him, hence the name, The Joker. Everything is funny, he laughs while he causes chaos and destruction, as he tortures people and causes pain, and his girlfriend Harley, is just as crazy, if a little less sadistic. 2 years ago they broke out of Arkham and kidnapped me, crime of opportunity, saw me walking down the street and grabbed me, held me for three weeks before I was rescued. This, is what I got in return.” I say, gesturing over my torso and back.   
“I think it’s safe to say that I was a bit messed up by the time Batman found me, the uh, giggling, from earlier is something that I picked up back then. They fed me a cocktail of drugs, combined with mental and physical torture and I turned into the equivalent a Joker minion. JJ, that’s what they named me, treated me like a fucking pet. The laughing was like a maniacal side effect from the drugs that he gave me. Some world class shrinks and a years worth of panic attacks, flashbacks and nightmares later, and I was finally me again. Now take into consideration that I was terrified to leave my house during this year, and it took another little bit after that, but I tried to get back to normal, go out by myself, hangout with friends, go to work and date, you know, normal shit. another year passes with me trying to be normal and not a lot of progress is made. So four months ago I applied to the BAU and two months ago I got in. So there you go, one more piece to the mysterious puzzle that you seem to think I am.” I tell them, realising that my body is rigid and i’ve shifted into a defensive position, so I make it a point to relax my muscles and sit back down on my bed, smiling morbidly at the doctor, who is still standing in the doorway of the room with a horrified look on her face.   
“Wait, if you couldn’t function in normal society 4 months ago, why on earth would you apply to the BAU? and you haven’t acted anything but normal around us, barring tonight.” Reid asks, confusion evident on his face.   
“I never planned on telling any of you any of this, it’s simply chance that I was there for Lexie and that the doctor wanted to wrap my ribs. Making all of you leave the room was only going to raise more questions and make Garcia, and the rest of you try to figure out what was going on with me, and I don’t think that the hospital security cameras are any sort of challenge for her if she got curious enough. It was easier to just come clean. To answer your question though Reid, I was making progress at home, but it was more like 2 steps forward 8 steps back. Every little normal thing that I managed to do by myself was then overshadowed by whatever was going to set me back for the day, every time I managed to go out and have a drink with my friends, it was completely swallowed by the fact that when I went to the grocery store I saw someone wearing a purple shirt and had a panic attack and I couldn’t even drive myself home.”   
I chuckle humorlessly as I remember Bruce picking me up from fucking Giant because exactly that had happened.   
“So while I had a support system, and I had a therapist, and I had a stable home environment, none of it was enough to make me feel safe in my city, and nothing that anyone did was going to fix that. I needed to escape the pressure of everyone around me expecting me to just be normal again, to be the same old Timmy that they knew, but I wasn’t anymore. And i’m sure that a lot of the pressure was in my head, because the people I call family aren’t any strangers to tragedy, or to being fucked in the head, but I felt like everyone was waiting for me to just be okay again, and that shit isn’t happening any time soon.   
So I came up with a plan and I talked it over with my friends and they all agreed that it would probably be helpful to my overall state of mind if I got away for a while. So I took the entry test, and I took the physical, and I had my interview with Hotch, and apparently i’m not too fucked up to get in yet.” I tell them, the truth spilling from my mouth faster than I can stop it from happening, although I do have enough brain power to substitute family for friends, and to keep anything Bat related out of the story.   
“What’s going on in here…? I hear a familiar voice ask as he pulls back the curtain.   
“Jason” I greet as I turn back around once more, facing my brother with a confused yet slightly relieved look on my face.


	7. chapter 7

“Replacement” he greets back, his gaze flitting over my body and calculating injuries before he moves it once more to my face.   
“What are you doing here Jay?” I ask, wondering why he of all people is showing up in my hospital ‘room’.   
“B heard you were in the hospital, not how bad it was, I was the closest person, so he had Dickie-bird call and beg me to come check on you.” he tells me   
“He didn’t call himself?” I ask, hoping that things between him and Bruce are still improving and haven’t been thrown off course again.   
“He knew that Dick had a better chance of getting me to come, especially since I was in the middle of a job when he called” he says, moving further into the curtained off room.   
“I thought you guys were trying to work things out” I say, fishing for answers.   
“Have you met him? He is the most emotionally constipated fucker out there, including me. Besides, I figured that working a case outside of Gotham would be a nice little break from the cold bastard” he says, walking around my bed and through my team so that he can flop down on the end of my bed.   
It’s only then that I take in what he’s wearing.   
His white tee-shirt and brown leather jacket do nothing to conceal the guns holstered around his ribs, and he doesn’t seem to care about the ones holstered on the outsides of his thighs, nor the one on his ankle and the final one tucked into the back of his jeans.   
I don’t even try to count the knives and explosives that I know he has on him.   
“Now, I wanna know what you’re doing in a hospital with minor injuries surrounded by a bunch of randos.” Jason says, looking up at me from where he’s laying on the end of my bed.   
“This little girl was attacked by 5 men and I fought them off, I got hit a couple times which is why i’m also in the bed” I tell him.   
His gaze flits from Lexie to me and finally settles on my team, who are all looking at him with varying degrees of confusion and suspicion.   
“I’m gonna take a guess and say that you are the BAU team that Tiny Tim here has decided to run off and join.” Jason says, his eyes flicking between Derek and Hotch.   
“Tiny Tim? Really Jay? I thought you gave up on that one when I finally hit my growth spurt” I say, drawing his increasingly menacing stare from them to me.   
“The day you grow taller than me is the day I stop calling you Tiny Tim” he says, and by the amused look on his face I can see how small of a chance that is.   
I think of my 6’0 frame compared to his 6’3 one, and scowl at him, at most i’ll grow another inch.   
“I’m gonna need you all to leave for a moment, I need to talk to my friend here about some things.” Jason says after a few beats of silence.   
When they look like they’re going to protest I just send Hotch a pleading look, and with an understanding one shot back at me, he leads the rest of the team from the room.   
“Stand up” Jason says after they’ve all been gone long enough that we know that there aren’t stragglers.   
“Why” I ask suspiciously   
“Because some dumbass wrapped your ribs too tightly, it’s throwing your breathing off too much.” he tells me, pushing himself into a sitting position.   
“Oh” is all a say as I stand up, moving to stand in front of Jason so that he can adjust the wrap.   
I shake my head and chuckle as he gently unwraps the bandage, before loosening it a bit and wrapping it around me once more.   
“What’s so funny Tim?” he asks as he wraps.   
“Nothing, it just strikes me sometimes how much you care about us, especially seeing how little you cared a few years ago, I mean, you were trying to kill me a few years ago. it’s just odd is all.” I tell him, wondering if i’ll get an honest response from him or if he’ll blow me off and redouble his efforts to prove that he doesn’t think of me as family.   
“I was fucked up a few years ago, and I know what it’s like when everyone around you is waiting for you to go back to normal, even though you won’t ever be normal again, because the person that you were was beaten out of you, until the people that are supposed to know you best can’t even recognise the person you’ve become, and sometimes you can’t either. And somewhere in my fucked up, twisted mind, what happened to you makes it so much harder for me to hate you, and even though I would never wish what happened to me and you upon another person, i’m almost glad that it did, because if I can’t hate you, and I can’t hate Bruce, then I can have my family back.” he tells me quietly, gently, like he was imparting his deepest secret, and he didn’t want anyone to overhear it.   
I guess that answers the question of how long he was waiting outside the curtain before he made his presence known, cause’ I was too caught up in the retelling of my shitty past to make sure that there wasn’t anyone else listening in.   
“We were always there Jase, you were the one who wouldn’t put down your walls long enough to see that all we wanted was for you to be alright, and for you to come home. I know that Bruce didn’t make coming home any easier, but he couldn’t reconcile the boy that you were with the scarred and angry boy that you came back as, he was upset that you had no issues breaking his number one rule, but he was so goddamned broken when you died, you wouldn’t have had a Bruce to come home to if I hadn’t stepped up when I did, he was ready to kill the Joker or die trying, and he didn’t give one single fuck about his own safety.” I tell him, waiting for him to finish wrapping my ribs, seeing as he had paused when I had started to answer him, his elbows resting on his knees while he tries in vain to make his hands stop shaking.   
“I know that you think that you aren’t worth much, but you saved my life long before you tried to end it. In case you hadn’t realised, you were the Robin that gave me something to believe in, it might have been Dick that gave it away with his quadruple somersault, but you were the one that I watched take down criminals and save people. You and B were everything to me when I was alone, when all I had in the world were my parents, who didn’t know, or care to know, anything about me, or where I went at all hours of the night. You and B gave me people to believe in, and I knew it was you Jase, so don’t try and tell me that it was just misguided hope placed on the shoulders of an untouchable, unidentifiable hero. Because I knew that it was Jason Todd, a kid from the slums of Gotham, who was out there working side by side with Batman, and you gave me something to believe in, and when you died, everything was different. B was different, he was brutal, and unforgiving in his interrogations and he came so close to crossing that line, because if it weren’t for Clark pulling him back at the last second, he would have, with the Joker. Dick refused to come back as Robin, but he needed a Robin, he needed someone to care about, because while you’ve never seen what he’s like without a Robin by his side, I have. It’s scary Jay, when Bruce doesn’t have someone holding him in check, when he doesn’t have us to worry about, when he doesn’t worry about setting a good example, when he’s not worried about our safety, or how we’d react to certain situations, he’s scary. And i’m not saying that I was scared for other people, although I was, I was scared for him, because with nothing holding him back, he really didn’t care what happened to him.” I tell him, hoping that this is the time that he chooses to listen, instead of shutting me down like he has done every single time before now.   
He swallows thickly before picking his hands up from where they dangle and he resumes wrapping my ribs, keeping his face tilted away from me so that I can’t catch his expression.   
“I can’t seem to hate you anymore Tim, B either, but everything isn’t all peaches and roses either, I want to believe you, but the Joker isn’t dead, and B still picks fights like no one else, and I still feel the rage building in my chest when I think of how the guy that I still can’t seem to stop thinking of as my dad, didn’t avenge my death, that he didn’t do everything he could to make sure that what happened to me didn’t happen to anyone else, he didn’t, and it did, and I can’t forgive him for that, no matter how much I want to.” he says, standing up, and after a moment of just standing there, he finally picks his head up enough to meet my gaze, and the raw pain I see there, swimming in my brothers eyes, etched in jagged lines across his face, it resonates with me like nothing ever has before, because it’s the same pain I see on my own face every morning before I put my own mask on, ready to face the world.   
So I hold his gaze for a few moments longer, and then I nod, letting him know that I understand and that he doesn’t have to explain it to me, not anymore.


	8. chapter 8

Me and Jason stood like that for a few seconds longer before he nodded back, his wall of defences quickly being built back up, and when he turns around to grab a pen light off the wall behind my bed and then turns to me with it in hand, his eyes are completely devoid of the previous emotion, now only holding traces of concern.   
“Let me check your eyes” he says as he pokes my chest, pushing me back onto the bed.   
I just nod and throw my legs back onto the bed, leaning back against the pillows behind me as he clicks the light on and off a few times.   
When i’ve settled he turns the light on and goes back and forth across my left eye a few times before moving onto my right, checking how my pupils react to the light.   
“I would give you shit about being beaten up by 5 inexperienced guys, but you’ve been out of the game for a while now, so i’ll give you a pass this time, but this job isn’t exactly safe, so you’d better start training again, cause’ this shit is unacceptable.” Jason tells me, indicating to my ribs and head.   
“Yeah, I know, that’s exactly what I was thinking” I tell him, pushing his hand away as he goes to flick me in the forehead.   
“Dumbass” he mutters as he puts the pen light back.   
“Asshole” I say back, smirking at the same time he does.   
“I’ll leave you to your little team now, but if I were you I would expect a visit from Dickie when you get back to Quantico” he tells me, backing away from my bed and casting a softening look towards the bed next to mine, and when I look over myself, I see why, Lexie is clutching my phone in her hands, the earbuds still in, but she’s fast asleep, curled up into a ball and hugging her pillow.   
When I turn back around to say bye to Jay, I find the curtained off room empty. Once a Bat, always a Bat.   
A few moments later the team enters the room again, this time accompanied by Garcia, who is toting around her laptop and gushing about the hottie who just left the room.  
“His name is Jason, Garcia” I tell her, drawing her attention towards me.   
“Are you alright Tim?” she asks worriedly.   
“I’m fine” I tell her reassuringly.  
“I don’t believe you, but I do have a video for you guys” she says, casting a worried look my way before scurrying over to the side of my bed and setting the laptop down on my lap.   
I see the fuzzy image of an alley, the same alley that I was in an hour ago.   
Garcia leans over me to turn the laptop so that everyone can see the screen, although it is a tight fit for everyone around the one side of my bed.   
When everyone can see Garcia hits play on the obviously cleaned up video.   
I watch as Lexie screams, and then not 30 seconds later I’m in the frame, it takes me all of 3 seconds to assess before the video shows me darting across the alley and grabbing the man by the back of his neck and swinging him around to the other wall, smashing his forehead into it and then twisting to the side as he throws a punch at me, after that I can barely track my own movements as my fist crashes down on his jaw and my foot strikes out at his balls before he hits the ground.   
I watch as I turn around to see the four men coming towards her, and I get there a second too late to prevent her head from being smashed into the wall. I’m sure that everyone notices the way that my body tightens in rage, before releasing like a spring as the large man charges me, I watch as I duck under his punch only to come up closer to him than he was expecting, delivering lightning quick punches and kicks to his abdomen and face, knocking him backwards with me following, continuing my assault on the way down, and then I move my eyes to the side to see one of the remaining three men pick up a half rotted wooden board from the alley floor, hefting it over his head and cracking it over my back, causing me to spin around to confront him, only to get caught with a roundhouse in the chest from one man and a right hook to the jaw from the other.   
I stumble back with the force of the hits, shaking myself off for a moment before I throw myself back into the fray, ducking and dodging to keep myself out of the middle of their circle. The one thing that surprises me about them, is that they actually try to work together to take me down, and if I was anyone but me, it probably would have worked.   
I watch as I catch a few hits here and there, most of them directed towards my already weakened ribs, I wince as I watch the vicious kick that cracked them.   
When the video is over silence reigns throughout the room, making me want to fidget.   
“I really need to start training again, i’m getting slow, I shouldn’t be this hurt after a fight like that.” I say, not knowing what I should say to them, and instead resorting to what I would say to my family if I were with them.   
“You’re getting slow? Are you kidding me kid, that was insane, i’ve never seen someone fight like that before.” Derek says, causing me to look down at my lap, realising that normal people don’t react like that after fighting 5 people with no notice in an alley.   
“Oh my god Tim, you can’t tell me you’re fine, you must have gotten punched in the face at least 4 times, not to mention the kicks to the ribs and everything else.” Garcia tells me, saving me from having to answer Derek, but I see the looks that him and Hotch are exchanging.   
“You should see the other guys” I tell her, and plaster shit eating grin on my face.   
“I did, they look like shit, every single one of them has a concussion along with multiple broken bones and bruises and cuts everywhere, not that I care about the creeps, but I did want to see what the damage was after watching that video.” she tells me, shooting me a proud look.   
“Why did you pull up the video anyway?” I ask her   
“Because a federal agent beat the shit out of 5 guys in a dark alley, there is going to be an investigation, although with the video evidence it’ll be a short one.” she tells me, and I curse myself for not thinking about that.  
I’m once again saved from answering when the curtains are pulled apart to reveal the scared and horrified faces of a middle aged man and woman, presumably Lexie’s parents.   
My thoughts are confirmed when they rush to her bedside, startling her awake. I smile as she flings herself into their arms, tears once again streaming down her face, although for a happy reason this time.   
After a few moments they seem to take notice of me, and then i’m overwhelmed by the thank you’s that i’m getting, both of them just repeating thank you over and over again as they hug their daughter.


	9. chapter 9

A few minutes after Lexie’s parents arrive the doctor walks back in, telling them that they will be taking her up for an MRI now, and I smile over at Lexie as they start undoing the locks on the wheels so they can take her up.   
“Thank you Tim” she says quietly as her parents accompany her out the door.   
I let my head fall back into the pillows when they’ve all finally left, and although my team is still here, they are being surprisingly quiet.   
I decide to just use whatever time it takes for them to put their questions together and ask them, to close my eyes and hopefully push back the throbbing headache.   
It’s only a few moments later that Derek speaks up.   
“So, how did you know that guy, Jason?” he asks, his question obviously a lead up to a bigger question.   
“Okay, well, you see, I have this one friend, Bruce, he’s pretty much the dad of our group, and he’s super overprotective and shit. Either way, he found out that I was in the hospital, and he sent the closest person, which just happened to be Jason, to come and check if I was alright. Jason is a bounty hunter, which is why he’s armed to the teeth all the time.” I tell them, hoping that my explanation takes care of most of the questions they would have.   
“So is he a friend, or a friend?” Garcia asks teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.   
“Aww, come on Garcia, he’s basically my brother.” I tell her, groaning at the insinuation that i’m dating my brother.   
“Okay, okay” she concedes, putting her hands up in the air.   
“How did the fact that you were tortured by a ruthless murderer not show up in your background check?” Garcia asks, moving onto heavier topics, apparently the rest of the team filled her in while I was talking with Jason.   
“My parents died when I was 13, the people I was living with at the time never reported me missing, three weeks passed, I was found, brought to the hospital as a John Doe, and by the time I was alright enough to leave, I did, my friends got me the help I needed and none of it was ever reported.” I tell them.   
“And who exactly are your friends that they could get you the help you needed after being tortured for three weeks?” Hotch asks.   
“A bounty hunter, a cop in Bludhaven, a 14 year old demon, and a businessman.” I tell them, conveniently leaving out the assassin part of Damians description and the one-of the-richest-men in the world part of Bruce’s.   
“Sounds... eclectic” Derek says.   
“Yeah well, no one ever accused us of being normal, but they’re the only family i’ve got.” I tell them, my voice slightly defensive.   
“This is something that the Bureau should have known about when you applied to the BAU, you are supposed to be in a sound state of mind for this job.” Gideon tells me, speaking up for the first time.   
“I took the psych eval. just like everyone else in this room, and I passed. The professionals seem to think that i’m in a perfectly sound state of mind. I know that I haven’t been a part of this team for very long, but I would really appreciate it if this didn’t get back to the Bureau, I happen to really like this job, and if this hadn’t happened tonight, none of you would be any more informed than you were 2 hours ago. This,” I indicate down my torso. “Doesn’t effect my work, and none of you even suspected anything until I took my shirt off, but we all know that if this comes back to the higher ups, i’ll be riding the desk for the rest of my career.” I tell them, hoping that i’ve built enough trust within these last 2 months that they won’t feel the need to nark on me.   
I catch the suspicious look that Hotch shoots my way, but then it gives way to a more thoughtful one.   
“I won’t tell anyone... on the condition that if it does start to affect your work, you tell me, and i’ll put you on desk duty until you can sort yourself out, if I find out that you didn’t come to me though, you’re career will no longer be something for you to worry about. Are we clear Jameson?” Hotch tells me.   
“Of course” I agree instantly, because even though I could easily change identities and get myself a job in another agency doing basically the same thing, I happen to really enjoy this job, and working with these people.   
“You can evidently lie, well, and I wasn’t really expecting that from you, just basing that assumption off of your personality, but then if you can lie as well as I suspect, you could also be withholding your true personality, which would be upsetting, to say the least. I don’t think that’s what you’re doing though, so if anything is leaked to the Bureau, it won’t be from me.” Reid says, and his comment about me hiding my real personality cuts deeper than I was expecting something like that to.   
Because I have revealed more than I ever have while undercover before, and i’ve also gotten more attached to the people i’m working with. I knew pretty much what to expect when I decided to go undercover with a group of people who analyze behavior on a daily basis, and I knew that there would have to be more truth in my lies than ever before, but I hadn’t expected to like them as much as I do, to want to fit in with them as much as I do.   
This was supposed to be something for me to do so that I could stay on my toes while not being Red Robin, for me to still work cases without the crippling fear that overcomes me while i’m working in Gotham.   
But the more time I spend with these people, the more attached I get. Not that I won’t still be leaving when i’m good enough to go back to being Red Robin, but I think now it will be a more painful burn than I previously thought.   
It hits me like a sack of bricks, I don’t want to burn Timothy Jameson.   
I quickly bury the thought.   
“Any other super invasive questions you wanna ask while i’m trapped here?” I ask, meaning for it to come out as a joke, but even I can recognise the bitter tones in my voice.   
“Not super invasive, but why didn’t you use your gun? You had it on you in the video, but you never drew.” Elle asks me, obviously confused with the action.   
“Um, I guess i’m still not comfortable using a gun, not that I wouldn’t draw if the situation called for it, but I knew that I could take him down without the use of lethal force. It’s always made me uncomfortable, how easy it is to kill someone with a gun, just aim, pull the trigger, and bang. It makes it easy to detach yourself from the situation, doesn’t it? It isn’t a violent action, pulling your finger back, but it causes so much damage. So, yeah, I didn’t draw because I knew that I didn’t have to, and even though what he was doing was despicable, it makes it so much easier to become the monster once you cross that line, killing someone. It changes you.” I tell her, once again revealing much more about myself than I had intended to with such a harmless question. There were countless lies I could have told her, but anything other than the truth seemed to twist something inside my chest, it made me uncomfortable.


	10. chapter 10

5 months later 

After the incident with the men in the alley, the team has treated me with more caution than I would like. They treat me like i’ll break the second something bad happens, but they don’t realise everything i’ve been through has only made me stronger, that all I needed to thrive was the opportunity to escape my fears.   
I’ve found myself stuck on the easy assignments on almost every single case that we have, and each time I bring it up with Hotch he denies it, saying that it’s because i’m still new and figuring out my place within the team.   
But we all know that it’s a load of shit, before they knew anything about me, he assigned me according to my strengths, not my perceived weaknesses.   
Which is how I find myself sitting here, in a borrowed room in a police station in Pennsylvania, sitting in my own desk chair next to Garcia.   
We have been on this case for a little over 5 days and we seem to be stuck, because no matter how many leads we run down, we always get caught in dead ends, and teenagers are disappearing at an alarming rate.   
I look over my shoulder when I hear the door open, only to see the whole team enter the small room, all of them wearing matching looks of frustration and exhaustion.   
“Do you have anything Garcia?” Hotch asks, sounding on the verge of desperate.   
“No, but why are you all here?” she asks, shooting him a questioning look.   
“We all need a break from looking at evidence, we’ve run down every lead, re-checked every crime scene, the only thing left to do is continue to go over the evidence, hoping we missed something.” he tells her, and the ‘until another kid goes missing’ part is left out.   
“I could be helping Hotch” I pitch in, feeling oddly reminiscent of when Bruce used to ground me from patrol, leaving me manning comms for the night.   
“Garcia needs help with the technical side of things for this case, she doesn’t have the same speed or capabilities out here that she usually does, it helps to have an extra set of hands.” he tells me, and I know that it’s on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she’s got it, but I know that she won’t, because she’s conspiring with him to keep me ‘safe’  
“Yeah” I mutter, causing Hotch to shoot me a look, but I can’t drag up the self preservation to care right now.   
Garcia turns back to the computers, the team turning to leave the room, but they are stopped at her frantic shout.   
“NO! What the hell! No no nononono, this is not happening!” she says as she types quickly on her keyboard.   
I look over the screens quickly, immediately recognising the code flashing over the screens, and while I know that Garcia is one of the best, she isn’t the best.   
“What’s happening Garcia?” Hotch asks, all of them suddenly coming closer to the screens, trying to figure out what went wrong.   
“I’m being hacked!” she shouts, still trying desperately to shut the intruder out of the system, but I know where she’s going wrong, and I know she won’t appreciate it, but if she wants to keep her shit intact, I need to do this.   
“Move” I bark, reaching for the back of her chair and pulling it back, away from the screens so that I can take her place.   
“Oh no you don’t” I mutter as I take over, ignoring Garcia’s shouts of protest.   
My eyes fly over the screens, taking in all the information and shutting her down at every turn, my fingers fly over the board, bringing me back to when she would test me with shit like this.   
It takes me a few minutes, but with a victorious cry I slam the last wall down, effectively shutting her out.   
“Take that Bab’s!” I shout, throwing my arms into the air.   
“And the student, becomes the teacher” I quote, quite smugly.   
I smirk as I hear the familiar sound of her accessing the speaker on my phone, turning around to find the shocked, and some angry, faces of the team looking back at me.   
“Gloating is unbecoming Timmy” she says, although I hear the pride in her voice.   
“Yeah, so is hacking into Garcia’s server” I tell her, pulling my phone from my pocket so that I can talk to her for real.   
“You and Wing are working the same case, although he’s been following it for much longer than you have, he’s been trying to pin down this human trafficking ring for over a month now, they moved on from Bludhaven when they realised he was after them.” she says.   
“So you knew that I was working the case, and instead of calling to tell me that we should maybe work together, you decided to hack my friend?” I ask, wondering what goes on in her head sometimes.   
“Well, I suggested that, but Wing said that he thought it would be more fun to drop in unannounced, I just went along with him. Although you can tell your team there that there will be new, incriminating evidence waiting for them back in their conference room.” she says, going into Oracle mode faster than I can blink.   
“Okay, tell him to just call next time, okay?” I ask her   
“Sure thing baby bird” she says   
“Not a baby” I mutter before she hangs up.   
“What the hell was that Tim?!” Garcia asks, half upset, half awed.   
“I recognised her code, and while I know that you are one of the best, she is the best, and only someone intimately familiar with the way she works would be able to shut her down.” I tell her   
“Intimately familiar with her code? Who the hell was that?” she asks   
“Oracle, famous in the hacking world, also the person who taught me most of the things that I know.” I say casually, knowing just how famous she is in hacking communities.   
“Oracle hacked me?” she asks, sounding unbelieving.   
“Yeah” I answer, knowing that it isn’t really a question, more of a ‘still processing’ thing.   
“The Oracle that works with Batman and the Justice League? The one who has been unhackable for years? The one that anyone who’s anyone tells stories about?” she asks, looking for confirmation that i’m not pulling her chain.   
“Yes, Garcia, that Oracle.” I tell her, amusement now making its way into my voice.   
“And you somehow shut her down? Oracle?” she asks   
“I told you that I was qualified for a tech position within the BAU, I might have been underplaying some of my talents, but I wanted to work in the field, and it’s harder to find great technical people on the right side of the law than it is to find field agents.” I tell her, putting emphasis on the part about working in the field, shooting a sidelong glance at Hotch.   
“So you are in contact with someone who knowingly works for vigilantes, and who somehow got someone to deliver us incriminating evidence in a crowded police station while we came here?” Derek asks, seemingly wanting clarification on certain points.   
“Uh, Nightwing, and yes” I tell him, deciding to just get the truth part out of the way.   
“Nightwing?” Reid asks   
“Yes, vigilante who works out of Bludhaven, has ties to Gotham and Batman, as well as the Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, and other more superhero-y less vigilant-y people.” I tell them, hoping the decision to doesn’t blow up in my face.   
“No, I know who he is, I was just wondering why you were on a nickname basis with him and this Oracle, and why we once again didn’t know something major about you that could end up affecting us, like it just did.” Reid tells me, the betrayal on his face sparking guilt, and then anger, so much anger.   
“Because, it’s personal! getting tortured was personal, but instead of making it difficult for you all to figure out, and kicking you out of the room like I so desperately wanted to, I let you stay, I let you see me, the real me, and I hate doing that. Masks keep me safe, from everything, I have people that I let them down with, but there aren’t many. After 2 months of knowing you people, I revealed one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me. Now after 7 months you’re finding a connection between me and a vigilante, and you are using it to call me into question, when it never had anything to do with you in the first place. Yeah, I get it, i’m not supposed to know the people that I do, but i’m not a corrupt cop, i’m not doing anything bad. Oracle helped me back then, she saw potential in me with the way I was with computers, I was just a kid when I met them, and they don’t put anything in danger here. They are the ones who made sure that you wouldn’t find out about the torture, the ones that completely buried my connection to them, because they want me to get better, they are my friends, unconventional ones, sure, but they care about me, and I won’t give them up for a job. I get that you are worried about my mental state, but the entire reason I joined this team, is because I knew that I would be helping to prevent people from doing what was done to me to other people, and sure, i’m helpful behind a computer, or a desk, but I need to move, I need to do things, and keep my body moving, because it makes it so much easier to push past what happened to me. Moving, and doing, it’s what makes me functional. You might think you’re helping me by keeping me somewhere safe, but just because I can’t get hurt by somebody that we’re hunting down, doesn’t mean that it won’t hurt me more in the long run if i’m cooped up with my fucking brain all day.” I finish off, the anger and tension palpable in the air.   
I stare them down for a moment longer, and after realising everything that i’ve just said, I avert my eyes and push past them all, throwing open the door and rushing out.


	11. chapter 11

I quickly make my way through the station, darting past people on my way outside, hoping that some fresh air will calm me down.  
I heave sigh of relief when I finally make it outside, the cold air refreshing me.   
I move away from the front of the police station and around to the back of it, where there aren’t as many windows or doors, hoping that nobody looks for me back there.   
When I get to the back of the building I lean against the wall, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose as I remember everything that I told them.   
I’ll be lucky if I still have a job when I go back in there.   
I yelled at them, even though we all know that I shouldn’t have let them know that I know Nightwing.   
“Hey baby bird” I hear Dick’s voice say softly from the shadows.   
“Hey” I greet back, taking care not to use his real name while he’s in costume.   
“So, I heard what you told your team in there.” he says, leaping off the roof of the building and landing silently a few feet away from me before walking closer.   
“I know that I shouldn’t have yelled at them, i’m the one in contact with vigilantes, everyone knows that that’s cause enough to get me fired. I was just, angry. They have been treating me like a kid for the last five months, ever since they found out about the Joker. I know that it’s just them being overprotective, I just don’t know why they are so overprotective over someone they don’t even know, I mean sure, I really like them, and I would like to consider them my friends, but they don’t know so many things about me, things that they should know if they are ever going to get closer to me than they are now. I keep revealing things about me, about us, to them, and I know that the only thing it does is put them closer to figuring everything out, which is absolutely not what I want to happen, but, I just, I like them. I want to tell them things about me that i’ve never had the urge to tell other people before.” I tell him, spilling my guts just like I used to when I was a kid, and he takes it in stride, just like he always does.   
“I get it Timmy. I hadn’t really ever had the urge to tell anyone while I was Robin, living in Gotham, I had friends in school, and they were cool, but we weren’t ever really close, and I loved going home and training and going on patrol. But, when Young Justice came about, it took this other side of me, that I had only ever really shown to Batman and a few other members of the JL, and put that side of me onto a team with people like me, the same age as me, if a bit older, and they didn’t know about my other identity, not even Kid Flash, and he was one of my best friends. The closer that I got to them, the more I wanted to share things about myself, my other identity, and me being me, I already knew their real identities, but they didn’t know mine. It was hard, not telling your best friends the one thing that you want to, because it wasn’t just my secret, my secret identity would be revealing others too, and I wouldn’t do that. So I get what you’re going through. I know that it’s difficult, because when you were living in Gotham, all of your close friends already knew everything, you didn’t have to hide anything you didn’t want to, and all of the undercover missions you’ve ever been on were for a case, not for you. This is different because it’s your team, your life, that you are creating, and you’ve found people that you want to trust. I’m telling you now though, that no matter how much you may want to tell them certain things, it’s not just your secret.” he tells me, his speech reminding me of all the other ones he’s given throughout the years.   
“Yeah, but you did eventually tell Young Justice who you really are” I say, thinking over what he just told me.   
“Yeah, with Batman’s permission, I told them who I really was, and their secret identities, and their knowledge of being a superhero, or a vigilante, is what made them realise why I hid who I really was, they understood because they were going through some of the same issues with people in their day to day lives. This is different, your team is a bunch of FBI agents who obviously don’t approve of vigilante activity.” he tells me.   
“I know Nightwing, I wasn’t going to tell them anything, I was just saying that I have to urge to tell them things, and it makes it harder for me to not reveal things that I shouldn’t be revealing. Like what happened with the Joker, or me knowing Oracle and Nightwing. I’ve got it under control though, I know the risks of telling them things, and I would never put everyone in danger by revealing something like that to civilians.” I tell him, making sure he understands what i’m trying to say.   
“I know you won’t baby bird, I just want to make sure that you don’t lose sight of certain things.” he tells me.   
I just nod, bracing myself for impact when Dick smiles, throwing himself at me. I return the hug happily, missing being able to be around my brothers.   
“Now, if I were you, I would get my ass back in there and apologise to your team” Dick says, smiling at me as he releases me from the hug, ruffling my hair as he takes off back to the rooftops.   
I lean back against the wall, this time a soft smile on my face. I decide to take a few more minutes to try and figure out what i’m going to say to my team when I do go back in there.   
After i’ve got a rough sketch of what I need to say I make my way back into the building, easily navigating my way back to the conference room that is set up for the duration of our investigation.   
When I push the door open and walk in, the entire team freezes, their expressions immediately going blank when they catch sight of me.   
“I know, that that was out of line, and i’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I understand why you would be angry, I was out of line, and I understand that there are consequences to my actions. These last five months have been fucking hell though, I can’t continue on like i’ve been, being stuck behind a desk, or interviewing people being the extent of what i’m allowed to do makes me almost completely useless to this team, you might as well have not hired me in the first place. So yes, I was out of line, but I would like you to just consider that the way you’ve gone about dealing with the information that you got from the hospital that night, might not be the best way to do so.” I tell them, although most of my apology is directed at Hotch and Reid, since they are the ones I was directing most of my anger at earlier.   
“This job, it’s messy, it’s emotionally and mentally draining, we all know that, and that’s why i’m letting this go, and why i’ll think on the points you brought up tonight, but if it happens again, I won’t hesitate to bench you.” Hotch tells me, and the words bring back a similar statement from a few months ago.   
“Got it” I say, turning to go back to the tech room i’ve been in with Garcia for the last five days.   
“Jameson” Hotch says, causing me to turn around.   
“Yeah?” I ask   
“A fresh pair of eyes might help” he says, nodding his head towards an untouched pile of evidence.   
I smile, turning and walking back into the room, a pleased smile on my face.   
“Your little friend dropped off what we’ll need to get these guys, we just need some of the evidence that’s buried in this room to go along with it” he says, going on to explain what we’ll need.


	12. chapter 12

3 months later 

Three months ago I blew up at my team, and three months ago, they realised that i’m not as breakable as they would like to believe. Which is also what leads us to here, stranded in the middle of the fucking desert, with no phone service, almost no water, and our murder suspect taking off with our car.   
“Fuck, me” I mutter, watching the vehicle drive off down the road, showing no signs of slowing down.   
We had been on our way back to our hotel, all of us miraculously shoved into one car, seeing as the other one was sitting parked outside the police station with 4 slashed tires.  
We already knew who the un-sub was, we just couldn’t find him.   
We had been working non-stop for 52 hours with no signs of the guy, when Hotch finally called an end to our caffeine fueled search.   
I knew that I could have continued working for at least another 48 hours before I needed sleep, but the rest of the team couldn’t, and didn’t know that I could, I had planned on working out some of my leads while the rest of the team caught up on some much needed sleep.   
Either way, we were driving to the hotel we were staying at when I saw the guy, around the same time as he saw me, he got in his car and took off, and Hotch followed, he led us out into the middle of the desert and then suddenly ditched his car, racing off into a maze of boulders, naturally, we followed. What we weren’t expecting was for him to double back and shoot out the engine of his car before taking ours, the keys still in the ignition.   
So that’s what leads to all of us, sans Garcia, being stranded in the middle of the desert.   
“What the hell do we do now?” Derek asks   
“We walk” Hotch answers, causing all of us to groan.   
“Hotch, we are like 20 miles into the desert, at 3:00 in the morning, and you want us to walk, in the dark, all the way back to civilization?” he asks, even though I know he knows we don’t have another choice.   
“We don’t have any other options, unless one of you magically has a way to contact someone, or to get us out of here?” he asks, not really expecting an answer, although I give him one anyway.   
“Um, I might” I tell him, cringing at the thought of what i’m about to do.   
“What? How?” Reid asks, the confusion evident on his face.   
“Well, see, so you know how I know some vigilantes, and how they might have helped us out on a case a few months ago, well, I might have been omitting the number of vigilantes that I know, and I kind of have a direct line to one of them, in case of emergencies, and he can be here within the hour.” I tell them, really debating on whether or not this is the right move, but I don’t really have a choice, not if we want to catch the man that has been torturing and murdering kids for the last few months.   
“Who?” Hotch asks   
“Um, Batman” I answer, hoping to god that this is the right choice.   
“You, Timothy Jameson, have a direct line to Batman?” Derek asks, the disbelief shown clearly on his face.   
“Yes” I answer simply, not willing to divulge more information than necessary when it comes to my family. Me? sure, but not my family.   
I wait a beat longer for questions that don’t come, so with a quick nod, I pull off my suit jacket and roll up my shirt sleeve.   
I look at the unassuming beaten up watch fastened to my wrist and then using the buttons on the sides I press in my code, the one that activates the direct line to Bruce, not the one for the Holo. computer.   
Three rings later and I hear the familiar growl of his voice on the other end of the line.   
“Hello” he answers, not greeting me as Red Robin or as Tim.   
“It’s Tim” I tell him, easily falling into the familiar pattern of talking to him, filling in the blanks to questions he won’t ask.   
“What do you need?” he growls down the line.   
“What are you doing?” I ask, wanting to know if i’m interrupting a high profile case.  
“Patrol” he answers, getting impatient.   
“I’m on a case with my team, we are currently in the middle of the desert with minimal water and about 20 miles back to town, no phone service and no car. I was hoping you could send someone to come pick us up. We have a serial torturer and killer to catch, but we’ll lose him if we have to walk back to town.” I say, keeping it informed but to the point.   
“i’m the only one not in the middle of a case at the moment, i’ll be there in about a half hour.” he says, and the telltale click lets me know that he’s disconnected our call.  
Short and to the point, sums up Batman pretty well, although Bruce is a bit more soft and fatherly, more conversational and less ridgid, good for nightmares and schoolwork, worrying about his kids and making fun of everyone he dupes into believing he’s dumb as a stump.  
The divide between him and Batman is sometimes as wide as the mariana trench is deep, and other times it’s only as thin as a piece of paper.   
“How exactly does he know where we are?” Reid asks, interrupting my thoughts.   
“He can pinpoint my location off the watch” I tell them, although the truth is that he gets my location off the tracker imbedded in my hip.   
The next half an hour is spent awkwardly avoiding the disbelieving looks that my team is sending me, not to mention the slightly angry or betrayed ones.   
So it’s with a sigh of relief that I hear the jet approaching, and it only takes a few more seconds for it to come into view, and a few more for the landing.   
I quickly stand from my seat on the cold asphalt, making my way towards the plane, waving my team forward when they shoot me suspicious looks.   
“Are you sure about this Jameson?” Gideon asks, the laidback man being replaced with one that’s concerned for the welfare of his team.   
“You have known me for 10 months, I have never done anything to hurt any of you, not on purpose. I have withheld information about my friends and my past, I have lied to you, and I know that you don’t exactly trust me, and I don’t expect you to, not with everything that continues to come to light about me. But he is not a bad person, he has never killed anyone, he has never brutalised civilians, what he does is most certainly illegal, but he helps people, he helps his city, and I believe that. You might not, you might think that the world would be better off without vigilantes, i’ve met enough people that do, but I also know that you think logically, you have to to survive in this job, and I know that looking at the facts, you can’t tell me that you think that he’ll hurt you. So i’m not asking you to trust my word, i’m not asking you to trust me, i’m asking you to think about the facts, and to think about the kids that we would be saving by accepting his help, and to make an informed decision.” I finish, hoping that at least the more logically inclined people in our group will listen to what i’m saying.   
It takes a few seconds, but before long the whole group is nodding, looking skeptically between me and the plane, but accepting the ride all the same.   
So with a sigh of relief I walk the last few steps to the plane, placing my hand on the scanner on the outside of the jet black surface, waiting for it to scan my DNA and my body before opening the door, the steps slowly coming to a halt on the ground.


	13. chapter 13

It only takes the group a few moment of hesitation before they follow me up the steps and into the plane. When they do I can see that they are surprised to see that it looks pretty much like a normal plane, just more advanced, and with a whole section set aside for medical, and the fact that the plane was comprised of blacks and greys, with a few red streaks here and there due to the insistence of me, Dick, Jay, and even Damian.   
Once all of us are in the plane and the door closes behind us, the cockpit door opens, revealing a man clad in black body armour, with a black cowl drawn over his face, obscuring his features.   
“Tim” he greets, and I can tell from his ridgid stance that he doesn’t like having a team of profilers in his Jet.   
“Bats” I greet back, because Batman is for when we’re working, and Bruce, or occasionally dad when we aren’t, yet around my team, neither seem right.   
I watch as Bruce slowly walks closer to us, causing most of them to tense, but it has the exact opposite effect on me, because when i’m with Bruce, I don’t have to constantly look over my shoulder, I don’t have to constantly be on guard to protect myself, because I know that he will always have my back, he is a calming presence to the Batkids, and the Batkids only.   
I cock an eyebrow when he stops about 4 feet from me, reaching up to what I know to be a storage space, and I almost laugh when he releases the latch and a man, hogtied, falls to the floor with a thump, and I recognise this man. He’s the guy that we have been searching for, the guy that we almost lost with our rookie mistakes today.   
The man is gagged and unconscious, and I can feel the amusement rolling off of Batman, and the confusion coming from my team.   
“Decided to help out a little?” I ask, the teasing tone evident in my voice.   
“He tortures and kills children” is all he says, like as if that’s an explanation.   
I sway on my feet as I feel the jet take off, and it’s only then that I wonder if Batman brought someone along with him.   
“Who’s flying?” I ask curiously   
“Robin” he answers simply, the growly tone of his voice making every word sound like a threat.   
“Thank you, by the way, for leaving Gotham for this” I tell him, because I know that he doesn’t like leaving Gotham in anyone’s hands but his own, unless absolutely necessary.   
“The others have it under control” is all he says.   
“You haven’t been sleeping” Bruce comments a few minutes later, after everyone has sat down on the bench seating along the sides of the plane, except for him that is.  
“I sleep enough” I tell him, looking up at the white slits, knowing that my worried father is now the one hiding behind the cowl, no longer the world’s greatest detective, or the infamous Batman, it’s no longer the icy crimefighter who takes to the streets every night, it’s my dad.   
“No you don’t” he says, immediately contradicting me.   
“I sleep more than you do” I point out defensively.   
“I sleep about as much as an insomniac on speed” he tells me, ending on a humorless chuckle.   
“Nightmares” I ask, already knowing the answer.   
“Nightmares” he confirms, and I know that we aren’t just talking about him anymore.   
“The two of you speak as though you have known each other closely for years. With the way you spoke of him, I had thought that you were merely acquaintances, but the way you react to each other, your body language as well as the way that you speak with each other, indicates that you have known each other personally, closely, for a long time.” Reid suddenly says, and I know that he has been watching us since we got on the plane.   
“We have been friends since I was 9, we have been through a lot of shit together. So you’re not wrong Reid, I do know him, personally, closely, and have, for a long time.” I tell him, the word ‘friends’ tasting bitter in my mouth.   
“Profilers” Bruce says, a hint of distaste detectable in his voice, growling as it is.   
I scoff.   
“Like as if profiling isn’t a part of your job, or something that you taught everyone that you mentored.” I tell him, both of us knowing that the only reason that I could land this job was because he taught me how to profile.   
He just tilts his head my way, a sort of ‘touche’ gesture.   
I feel the plane start to descend a few minutes later, and when it fully lands I watch as the cockpit door opens, revealing Damian, dressed in his Robin armour.   
I hear the shocked intakes of breath coming from the team behind me, knowing that they are stemming from the reality of seeing a child battle ready, and knowing that a child is fighting heinous criminals alongside Batman.   
“He really is a kid” Gideon mutters, a horrified look on his face.   
I almost want to roll my eyes, but I know that looking at this from a civilian standpoint, it must be pretty fucked up to see a kid dressed in armour, ready to go fight criminals that are far worse than what they see on a day to day basis.   
“Jameson” he says, getting my attention, and thankfully using my aliases last name.   
“Yeah Robin?” I ask, wondering what he is thinking, it’s been ten months since I saw the kid, and we left off on good terms. I’ve talked with him on the phone since then, but not individually, usually just if he’s on the line when me and Dick are talking.   
“I’ve been keeping tabs on some of your cases. I know that you have a team, just... be careful.” he says, the utter concern and emotion that is radiating from my little brothers eyes right then almost scares me, because i’ve never seen him like this.   
As he turns to go back into the cockpit I move, not wanting him to close the door on me, I catch him right before he goes through the doorway.   
“I’ll be okay Robin” I tell him, placing my hands on his shoulders and turning him so that he looks at me, making sure he knows that I really do mean what i’m saying. Then I pull him into a bone-crushing hug, feeling him hug me back immediately.   
After a moment I release him, ruffling his hair and watching as he reconstructs his mask of indifference and annoyance, looking up at me once more before the walls behind his eyes slam completely closed, shutting me off from whatever is going on inside his head.   
Damian and I seemed to gain an understanding of sorts after the Joker tortured me, it was like he did a 180, from hating me and wanting me out of the family, to sidelong glances filled with concern, only to be swept away moments later with his cold mask. He didn’t try and pick fights with me, and during my year of being too terrified to leave the manor, he pretty much shadowed me, nudging me into the kitchen to eat, unplugging my computer when I stayed up for too long and I needed sleep, just sitting in the room with me, reading a book while I worked on my computer.   
It was like he was scared I would break, but he didn’t baby me, he didn’t treat me like an imbecile, or a dumbass. He simply treated me like his brother, a brother he was worried about, sure, but he didn’t try and go complete mother hen on me like Dick did those first few months. He didn’t avoid me like the plague because he didn’t know what to say to me like Jason did. He didn’t look like he was going to kill someone or throw himself into a vortex of guilt like Bruce did.  
It was odd that Damian went from being the little demon who couldn’t stand me and vice-versa, to being the easiest person in my family to be around. And for pretty much two years now, we’ve been, nice, to each other. We still fight occasionally, but it’s not as explosive, and he always looks at least a little guilty when he picks fights with me.   
Not to mention the fact that he just let me hug him, and he didn’t even try and act like he hated it, he didn’t push me away or snarl. He simply hugged me back, told me to be careful, and he also made me realise that I should call him more often. Because even though he might not talk to me like he talks to Dick, and even though he probably won’t participate very much in the conversation, seeing how worried he was, and still is, about me, I should probably call every once in a while to let him know that i’m still doing alright.   
I’m pulled out of my thoughts and into a hug, not realising that I spaced out while Damian retreated back into the cockpit. I feel my body relax as Bruce pulls me into a hug, his tense form relaxing some as well. It only lasts a few moments, but in those moments I can truly let down my defences, I can fully relax for the first time in months, letting Bruce take the burden off my shoulders for those short moments, but all too soon he’s pulling away, nudging me towards my team, who has since gathered at the door, curious eyes cataloging every move made.   
I push the button to open the door, somehow being surprised that it’s still dark outside, even though logically I know that we’ve only been in the plane for about 20 minutes.   
We all exit the plane, followed by Batman, holding the hogtied and still unconscious criminal and carrying/dragging him to our waiting car, the one that the man had taken not an hour earlier.   
“You are about 5 miles from town, he shouldn’t wake up for another half hour” He says as he deposits the man on the ground a few feet from our SUV, nodding bye to me before retreating back to the jet black plane.   
“Bye Bats” I mutter as he closes the door behind him, the plane taking off not a moment later, disappearing from view just as soon as it had appeared.


	14. chapter 14

Me and Derek take the hogtied man and load him into the back of the car while the rest of the team piles into the car, the two of us following moments later.   
Once we are all in the car, the engine started and Hotch starts to pull down the road, the questions start.   
“How closely exactly, do you know Batman?” Derek asks   
“He’s one of my closest friends” I answer, even though that’s a lie.   
“And Robin?” JJ asks  
“He’s, well, we didn’t get off to a good start, there were a lot of downs, but after what happened with the Joker, we grew a lot closer, so he also qualifies as one of my best friends.” I tell her, once more revealing more information than necessary.   
“He seemed worried about you” Reid comments  
“He was, he has been, ever since what happened, he has been worried about me.” I tell them, taking care not to continue that line of thought and talk about how our relationship changed when I came back.   
“You and Batman, you are close, the way that you reacted when he hugged you, which was strange to see in and of itself, but you relaxed completely, in a way that I haven’t seen from you yet. It speaks of a trust, a deep trust, and running with everything I already know about you, I would say that you trust him with your safety, which is what let you lower your guard, you weren’t looking out for yourself, you trusted that he would.” Reid suddenly says, a thoughtful look on his face.   
“I told you that I trusted him” I say simply, taking a page out of B’s book.   
“Yet a trust like that is hard to come by, because even adults with their parents, it’s not like that, they still hold onto some of their tension, there is an undeniable trust between family, but it’s usually tainted by feelings of mistrust, whether it was a secret that was kept, or a secret that you’re keeping, a fight that struck a nerve, or anything really, that’s holding them back from being completely comfortable. Once you grow up you start to lose that complete trust and faith in your parents, for some people it occurs earlier, but still, it’s rare to see two adults so comfortable with each other.” Reid says, rebutting anything I could have said.   
“He saved my life, he has always saved me. No matter what, I know that he would lay down his life for mine, for anyone that he cares about, no matter what I ever did, I know that he would still stand by me. There aren’t a lot of people who can get past his cold, hard, asshole exterior, but those that do, are a part of his family for life. He didn’t have a family, he built one, he took people just as broken as him and he protected them, made them better, gave them the whatever they were seeking, and let them go, trusting that they would come back eventually. Everyone who accuses him of using child soldiers has no fucking idea what they are talking about, because without him, those kids would have gone down a lot more fucked up paths than the ones they are on now. Everyone wants to be horrified because all of the Robins have been kids, but every single one of them is trained to peak physical condition, maybe not peak mental condition, but they were all fucked way before he took them in. I know for a fact that the Robins aren’t allowed out on solo patrol until at least a year into patrolling with him, I know that any and all major injuries get you benched until you are okay again, I know that he took care of them, takes care of them, when there wasn’t anyone else to do it, and when they want to leave, either to just get out from under the shadow he casts, or they want to live their own lives, he lets them, trusting that these people that he saved, won’t just leave forever, that they’ll come back. He doesn’t hold anyone there against their will, every single one of them is free to go, but they do always come back. No matter how many fights they get in, no matter what happens, the loyalty goes both ways. He is a good man, he might not always be the easiest to get along with, but he saved me, he saved us.” I tell them, my word vomit spewing out of my mouth before I can stop it, although I believe every word that I said.   
It seems that I stunned the car into silence, because that’s all that I can hear for the next few minutes, everyone seemingly processing what i’m telling them.   
“You’re Red Robin” Hotch says, his voice steady, certain of his words.   
“That’s ridiculous” I say, my voice on the verge of cracking, not expecting any of them to put that together.   
“No it’s not, everything lines up. Red Robin left the vigilante scene two years ago, when you said that you were taken and tortured by the Joker, about a year later there were a few sightings, but nothing to suggest that he-you, were really back, which lines up with when you told us that you were trying to go back to normal. You have known these vigilantes since you were 9 years old, the third Robin came out abou 2 or 3 years after that, which is plenty of time to train you. Red Robin hasn’t been seen since you came here, I recognised some of the moves you used from some security footage of Red Robin fighting. The closeness, and extreme loyalty you exhibit towards Batman, not to mention the way you spoke about him, you know him, you know how everything works with Batman and the Robins intimately, you might have used ‘them’ a lot, but it wasn’t hard to figure out that those were things that you feel towards him. I would guess that you also think of him as your father figure, and the current Robin as your brother. I could practically feel the distaste when you called them friends, they aren’t your friends, they are your family. You love them, you protect them, you are loyal to them. Family.” Hotch says, slamming on the brakes and pulling the car off to the side of the road when he begins laying out the evidence.   
“You- you’re right. I’m Red Robin, Batman is my dad, not biologically, but he’s my dad. Nightwing, Red Hood, Robin, they are my brothers.” I confirm, not sure what else I can do without making them more pissed than they already are.   
“What the fuck man?! Why the hell did you join this team? Are you spying on us?” Derek asks, anger permeating the air, creating even more tension than there already was.   
“NO! Fuck, no. I did not join this team to spy on anyone, I didn’t do it to use you, or hurt any of you. I did it, because I ca-can’t be Red Robin right now, i’m terrified of working in Gotham, that’s why I left, and I applied to the BAU because I knew that I would be working cases that could keep me occupied, without sending me spiraling. I have a family, and I have a job waiting for me when I can go back, but I can’t, not now. This team, all of you, i’m doing better than I have in two years, because of you, you make it, alright. This job, with all of you working with me, you make it bearable, being out in the world, even though i’m terrified that he’s going to find me. I swear to god, I never wanted to hurt any of you, I just wanted to be okay again.” I tell him, pleading with them to forgive me, to understand why I did what I did.   
After a few beats of silence I speak up once more.   
“I didn’t want to lie to you, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t just apply to the BAU with the resume of being a vigilante in Gotham, I would have gotten taken for a mental evaluation, or I would have been locked up, because it’s fucking illegal. Doesn’t matter how many people I saved, how many crimes I stopped, or how many criminals I locked up, it’s illegal, and I would have been arrested. It doesn’t matter that I really liked you guys, that I didn’t want to lie to you, it’s illegal, and it wasn’t just my secret, I have 5 other people that are also keeping a secret identity.” I tell them, hoping to hell that they at least think over what i’m saying.   
“Any other secrets you’ve been keeping from us?” Elle asks angrily a few moments later.   
“I’m 19” I tell them, deciding that if i’m going all in, I might as well go all in.


	15. chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The End.

“I-” Reid is interrupted when the hogtied man in the backseat with us starts to wake up, immediately starting to struggle against his bindings.   
Hotch simply lets out a sigh of frustration before starting the car up, scowling at me in the rearview mirror before he pulls out and continues on the way back to town.   
It only takes a few minutes for us to get to the police station, me and Derek once again picking up the hogtied man and carrying him in, once we do get there though we are forced to untie him and instead handcuff him, handing him over to the deputies there to book him and get him transferred to a more secure prison than the one available to them in the small town.   
An hour later finds the entire team crowded into my small hotel room, me waiting for them to start speaking, entirely unsure on where this conversation is going.   
“We have discussed it, and decided that you will be allowed to stay on this team, we didn’t come to that conclusion at first, but we realised that with the training that you got from Batman, and the skills that you have already shown us, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to simply erase yourself and move onto another team, because you obviously aren’t ready to return to Gotham. This does not mean that we are at all okay with you lying to us, it doesn’t mean that everyone here forgives you, it just means that you will be allowed to stay on as a part of this team until you feel ready to go back home.” Hotch tells me, and I feel something clench in my chest, disappointed that I made real friends, only to ruin it with lies.   
“I’m sorry” I say, looking down at the ground.   
I stay that way until the team files out of the room, everyone except Reid that is.   
“I know, that i’ve been the first one to get angry at you when we find out that you lied to us about something, but getting the whole story, knowing why you were doing what you were doing, i’m not all that mad at you Tim. I’ve always wanted something like what you have with your family, loyal to a fault, and I think I have it, with this team. I would lie to people too, to keep them safe, I know that I would, and I don’t hate you for what you did, I actually get it.” he says, causing me to pick my head up to look at him, the ball of tension in my chest loosening at his words.   
“Neither does Garcia, just, you know, I thought you might want to know, we aren’t mad at you, hurt that you lied, yes, but not mad.” he says awkwardly, standing there for a moment before he too turns to leave the room.   
“Thank you Spencer” I tell him just before he shuts the door, and the hesitation before it clicks shut lets me know that he heard me.   
I think over his words, one thing becoming abundantly clear, i’m an interloper.   
It’s the way that Reid worded his statement, “I would lie to people too, to keep them safe” them, they are his team, his people, and while he doesn’t hate me for lying to them, i’m still not one of them, i’ll always be one of the Bat’s, no matter how much I wanted to belong to this team, they aren’t my team, and i’m not theirs. 

1 year later 

Even though I had realised that I wasn’t really one of them, I still needed them, I still needed these cases, this team, to get better. Because they were right about something, I still wasn’t ready to return to Gotham, but now I am.   
The Joker is gone, dead.   
Batman saw it, he was chasing him down and ended up on a rooftop fighting the Joker and a bunch of his hired men, he had Damian with him, but he was occupied with a bunch of the lackeys when it all went down. Apparently one of the Joker’s men brought a gun to a crowbar fight, and in his excitement to be the one to take down Batman, he missed, shooting the Joker in the head.   
Batman and the Gotham City coroner confirmed that it was indeed the Joker, and that he was indeed dead.   
I’ve been working with the BAU for almost 2 years, I haven’t had a flashback in about 1 and my overall mental health has improved immensely.   
The team never really did get over me lying to them, except for Reid and Garcia, but that was okay, instead of accepting me into the tight knit unit they had, I was their co-worker. It’s been alright, ever since that case in the desert, where Hotch figured me out, they didn’t bring it up again, just put distance between me and them.   
But now, it’s time to leave, to go back to my team.   
I handed in my 2 week notice 13 days ago, and i’m supposed to be leaving tomorrow, but I don’t think anyone will mind if I leave a little early.   
Tonight i’m here to pack up my desk, we just got back from a long case and i’m the only one still in the office. I don’t mind though, I left a letter on everyone’s desks, wanting them to know that even though they didn’t forgive me for lying to them, that I still really appreciated what they did for me, it was really just a goodbye, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the only ones to read them were Reid and Garcia, I still wanted to try.   
I collect the last item out of my desk, a picture of me and the team a few months into the job, and I put in my bag, standing up from my desk and pushing the chair in.   
I look around the bullpen for the last time, wondering if this would have ended differently had they not figured me out, or if I hadn’t lied to them.   
They did though, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. So I make sure that the letters are still on everyone’s desks, and then I make my way to the elevator.   
I had my apartment packed up before I left on the last case, and all of my things shipped back to my old apartment in Gotham, all that’s left is me.   
When i’m settled in my car I give the nondescript building one more look before I pull out, leaving this chapter of my life behind, but knowing that i’ll have good memories to look back on.   
This isn’t exactly a sad ending, but it also isn’t a happy one. Either way, i’m keeping my promise, i’m going back to Gotham, Red Robin, and my family.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? good? bad? meh? lemme know what you think. :)


End file.
